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Ask HN: Can I recruit for your startup for a flat $2k fee?

9 points by hash872 ↗ HN
I.e. not contingent upon hiring, but just a flat fee for the time I invest into the search. As the title suggests, I'm a self-employed recruiter, mostly focusing on tech/IT/product but have knowledge of other domains. I'm not particularly wedded to the current recruiting model of high fee if I place someone, $0 if I don't. I primarily just work with startups & cool small companies.

I'd be most interested in seeing if I could apply this flat fee model to seed/angel-stage startups, that probably can't afford a traditional recruiter. Seems like classic disruption theory to me- a smaller, more agile new entrant offers cheaper services to a market segment previously underserved by high-profit incumbents. I read the big discussion yesterday about breaking up the real estate agent cartel with great interest- lots of great ideas for alternate business models in there, perhaps I can help contribute on the recruiting front. Yes we could probably work out a bulk deal for multiple jobs.

I was unsure if commercial content/advertising like this was prohibited by HN rules (I Googled around, and did read the Guidelines twice to be sure). If so, please feel free to delete/nuke from orbit, I won't be offended.

If you're interested, please let me know a good way to reach you (I was slightly concerned about putting my info out there in case the response was negative). Thanks,

7 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 31.0 ms ] thread
Someone
That approach requires companies to trust you to actually do any work in exchange for the fee. How do you propose to gain that trust? If you manage to do that, will you still manage after a few less scrupulous parties have entered this market?

Also, if, after a week/month/quarter, you haven’t found a candidate that gets hired, would you continue working indefinitely as eager as you initially did on the recruiting?

IMO, no sane employer would expect you to, and many would think anybody who promises that is a fraud. So, why not simply make it $x per day/week, and effectively become a hired hand?

hash872
It doesn't take a week/month/quarter to find a software engineer for one job. I could do most of the reachout in 2-4 days. There's only a finite amount of stuff one can do in a search.

I suppose I could invoice after the fact. I can easily provide glowing references from other startups, that's not an issue.

There are already plenty of hourly contract recruiters (I have a low opinion of their quality, sorry). My personal experience with hiring hourly workers (on Upwork) is that that's where the real scams are- incentives are not aligned. I only hire others on on a project basis now- seems like it makes the most sense for everyone involved

e1g
I'm in your target audience - ping me for a chat (see profile for the email).
hash872
It bounced back, sorry- 'because the domain tznvy.pbz couldn't be found'
e1g
The email address is encoded (see the opening comment).
verdverm
That's an interesting challenge that could be used test "AI"